Why did it take so long for the irish to unite against the viking threads? Those fuckers were setting up europes largest slave markets at the coast of ireland selling mainly the irish
>>18485457Because these Vikings included local Gaels. It wasn't a totally foreign enterprise.
>>18485457They were backwards retards.
>>18485457[83] Olaf Haraldsson in the past tense, death at the Battle of Stiklestad having occurred in 1030 consolidation of Norway that Cnut went to Scotland with an army,[84] and the navy in the Irish Sea,[85] in 1031, to receive, One of these kings, Iehmarc, may be one Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, an Uí Ímair chieftain and the ruler of a sea-kingdom of the Irish Sea,[46] with Galloway among his domains. "brings to mind Swein Forkbeard's putative activities in the Irish Sea and Adam of Bremen's story of his stay with a rex Scothorum (? king of the Irish)[88] [&] can also be linked to... Iehmarc, who submitted in 1031 [&] could be relevant to Cnut's relations with the Irish".[85][clarification needed]
>unite against the viking threatsPrior to their arrival, there was little in the way of armies in Ireland. Irish law, particularly since the Synod of Birr in the 7th Century, make very big armies quite useless because using them for anything would usually break the law so severely that it'd be very easy for your rivals to overthrow you.Most warfare in Ireland was small scale; raids or personal duels. So when the Norse arrived, nobody knew how to deal with them. This was the "Golden Age of Christianity" when the most prestigous thing a Kingdom could do was have a thriving community of scholars and theologians. There were of course wars, but it wasn't really until the mid-late 10th Century that things turned around.>what happened?People got sick of their shit. Powerful kings, realising they needed to deal with them, decided to say "fuck it" and raised big enough armies to combat them-once they started doing this, it was quite a one sided campaign of the Gaels pushing the Norse back. Dublin was sacked multiple times, and other Viking longports were often vassalised. But the big one was>Brian BoruThe arrival of Vikings upset the balance of power, so in Munster a small but highly militarised tribe were able to basically seize control of most of southern Ireland. They began as illegitimate but were soon legitimised via Mathagamin mac Lorcan. By this stage Norse Kingdoms were basically acting as part of wider Gaelic society, but when Mathgamain was killed in a plot by the Vikings of Limerick and the old Munster Kings he deposed, his younger brother Brian went on an anti-norse crusade.He burned Viking Limerick down, slaughtered most of the bloodline of its king, and unified the island under his rule. He repelled a second norse invasion in 1014, but died in the process. Viking age ended, but Ireland shattered once more. Kino story, but a typically tragic ending.
>>18485526At this point Irish theologians were bringing literacy to much of Britain via their monasteries. This is probably the very worst time in all of history to suggest the Irish were backwards, as the start of the Viking age was at a time when Ireland was more or less exclusively known in Europe for the extremely high quality scholars they exported.
>>18487322If you're curious about the details of the rise of Brian Boru, it was basically this:>Munster (major southern provincial kingdom, among the 4 most powerful entities in Ireland) is ruled by the Eóganachta, a dynasty that had ruled from approx 6th Century>Within their territory are the Dál gCais, lead by Cennétig mac Lorcáin in the mid 10th Century>By this stage, the Norse in Ireland were more settlers than conquerers; they often assimialted and were seen by some as simply yet another small rival regional power in any large Kingdom>Cennétig wanted more for the Dál gCais, and hoped to overthrow the Eóghanacta-he warred them with mixed results>One day, he and many of his family are killed in a Norse raid on their home>Among the survivors are his son Mathgamain, and his youngest son Brian>The Vikings have destabilised Eóganachta rule, and left them weak; Mathgamain takes this opportunity to usurp them-at this stage the Dál gCais become the new legitiamte Kings of Munster>Mathgamain defeats and then makes a truce with the Vikings of Limerick (lead by Ivar of Limerick) to consolidate his rule-his younger brother Brian hates this, and takes a number of companions on a years long guerrilla war against Ivar to wipe him out entirely>Ivar and the deposed Eóganachta King have Mathgamain assassinated; both of them have ambitions to become ruler, but know he has to go>Brian is furious-he kills them both and proclaims himself king>This is illegitimate, High King of Ireland seethes>Brian unites Ireland under his rule, hoping to reform it to create a stable and centralised Irish Kingdom>The Norse King of Dublin and the King of Leinster (who both hate him for cucking them from power) rebel, and invite a huge Norse army from Britain+Scandinavia to invade >Brian marches (in his 70s) to meet them at Clontarf in 1014>Rebels+invaders get their shit pushed in, but Brian and his heirs are also killed in the fighting>Viking age ended
>>18487322>>18487378Good to add this was after the viking main stronghold and great heathen army had been neutralized by the english
